Much activity involved in improving printhead reliability in ink-utilizing printers has involved structure and methodology for cleaning and removing unwanted substances from printheadsxe2x80x94chiefly dealing with the removal of ink deposits which have formed adjacent the exposed outer surfaces of printheads. It is typical, for example, for a printhead, once it has been returned to the servicing station in a printer, to be addressed by a contacting cleaning wiper which is formed of a flexible, resilient material that has been wetted with an appropriate ink solvent drawn from a solvent-dispensing system of such solvent in preparation for a printhead-cleaning operation.
It is desirable in this setting that the system for delivering fresh solvent for use by such a wiper (or cleaner) operate as efficiently and simply as possible, with minimal to no appreciable waste of solvent liquid, and under the control of supply and dispensing structure which is very reliable, and which occupies a minimum amount of space in a printer.
In this environment, different porous materials may be employed as parts of the structure which handles and delivers ink solvent. One such material typically acts as a part of a supply reservoir for ink solvent. Another material may be employed as a wettable dispensing pad that can be contacted by a cleaning wiper to deliver to that wiper an appropriate quantity of solvent for use by the wiper in a printhead-cleaning operation.
An apparatus for delivering ink solvent to a printhead in a printing device is provided, the apparatus including a reservoir structure configured to hold ink solvent, a dispensing structure configured to dispense ink solvent drawn from the reservoir structure, and elongate conveyance structure fluidly connecting the reservoir structure to the dispensing structure, and having along its length a surface-energy characteristic which conveys a flowable continuum of ink solvent to the dispensing structure at least partially via surface-energy phenomena.